Installation
Quick install with an LLM agent
If you are setting up Wren AI Core with an AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Aider, etc.), the fastest path is to install the full Wren AI skills package and let the agent drive the rest. Skills are structured workflow guides that teach AI coding agents how to use the Wren CLI — they are optional but strongly recommended.
# Via npx
npx skills add Canner/WrenAI --skill '*'
# Or via install script
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Canner/WrenAI/main/skills/install.sh | bash
The installer auto-detects your AI agent. To target a specific one:
npx skills add Canner/WrenAI --skill '*' --agent claude-code
This installs all four skills into your agent's skill directory:
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|---|
| wren-onboarding | Entry point — handles install, project scaffolding, profile setup, first query |
| wren-generate-mdl | Schema discovery and MDL project generation from a connected database |
| wren-usage | Day-to-day query workflow — context, recall, SQL, store results |
| wren-dlt-connector | Connect SaaS APIs (HubSpot, Stripe, Salesforce, GitHub, Slack, …) into DuckDB via dlt |
Then start a new agent session (skills are loaded at session start) and ask:
Use the
wren-onboardingskill to install and set up Wren AI Core.
The wren-onboarding skill drives the rest of the setup — environment checks, project scaffolding, data source connection via .env, and a first query — and dispatches to the other skills as needed. Skill source: github.com/Canner/WrenAI/tree/main/skills
See the Skills reference for what each skill does in detail.
If you'd prefer to install manually, follow the steps below.
Requirements
- Python 3.11+
- pip (or any Python package manager)
Optional, depending on your workflow:
- Git — for cloning skill repositories
- Node.js / npm — for installing skills via
npx - An AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, etc.) — for skill-driven workflows
Install the CLI
pip install "wren-engine[main]"
This installs:
wrenCLI — query, plan, validate, build, profile, and memory commandsmemory— LanceDB-backed schema indexing and NL-SQL recallinteractive— terminal-based interactive promptsui— browser-based profile configuration form
Verify the installation:
wren version
Data source extras
DuckDB is included by default. For other databases, add the corresponding extra:
# Single data source
pip install "wren-engine[postgres,main]"
# Multiple data sources
pip install "wren-engine[postgres,bigquery,main]"
| Data source | Extra | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DuckDB | (included) | No extra needed |
| PostgreSQL | postgres | |
| MySQL | mysql | |
| BigQuery | bigquery | Requires Google Cloud credentials |
| Snowflake | snowflake | |
| ClickHouse | clickhouse | |
| Trino | trino | |
| SQL Server | mssql | |
| Databricks | databricks | |
| Redshift | redshift | |
| Oracle | oracle | |
| Athena | athena | Requires AWS credentials |
| Apache Spark | spark |
Install skills
Skills are structured workflow guides that teach AI coding agents how to use the Wren CLI. They are optional but strongly recommended.
# Via npx
npx skills add Canner/WrenAI --skill '*'
# Or via install script
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Canner/WrenAI/main/skills/install.sh | bash
The installer auto-detects your AI agent. To target a specific one:
npx skills add Canner/WrenAI --skill '*' --agent claude-code
The installer drops these skills into your agent's skill directory:
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|---|
| wren-onboarding | End-to-end install + first-connection flow. Triggers on /wren-onboarding, "install wren", "set up wren engine" |
| wren-generate-mdl | One-time setup — database introspection, type normalization, MDL generation |
| wren-usage | Day-to-day workflow — schema context, query recall, SQL execution, result storage |
| wren-dlt-connector | Connect SaaS data (HubSpot, Stripe, Salesforce, GitHub, Slack) via dlt pipelines into DuckDB, then auto-generate a Wren project |
After installation, start a new agent session — skills are loaded at session start.
See Skills Reference for details on what each skill does.
Virtual environment (recommended)
Keep wren-engine and its dependencies isolated from your system Python:
python3 -m venv ~/.venvs/wren
source ~/.venvs/wren/bin/activate
pip install "wren-engine[postgres,main]"
Activate the environment in every new terminal session before running wren commands:
source ~/.venvs/wren/bin/activate
Upgrading
pip install --upgrade "wren-engine[main]"
To update skills:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Canner/WrenAI/main/skills/install.sh | bash -s -- --force
What's next
- Quickstart — try the CLI with a sample dataset
- Connect Your Database — set up your own data source